Monday, January 4, 2016

When I was teaching at an Islamic school in Florida, I was appalled at how the Muslim children in my English class couldn't read a story about a Chinese-American boy without making fun of Asians. No matter how much I stopped and corrected, the ill treatment continued. I am a firm believer in teaching children (and adults) not to make fun of anyone; act only as you would if they were standing in front of you. That fifth grade class got a surprise writing assignment: write a page on Chinese Muslims.

One of the more interesting facts we discovered back in my classroom is that there are actually 10 million Chinese Muslims which means there are more Muslims in China than there are in Saudi Arabia. Think about that!

Today, as I research some Chinese language for my upcoming lessons on Hung Wu, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. Hung Wu helped to build The Great Mosque of Xi'an which is really an amazing testament to the spread of Islam. I once again became enlivened by Chinese Muslims.

Take a look at this:

回

huí

I find that character quite simple and beautiful. I found it when I was looking up the word for "to answer". Yes, it has that meaning but it also means

to circle

to go back

to turn around

to return

to revolve

Hui ethnic group (Chinese Muslims)

It's the word for Chinese Muslims!

Isn't that great?! It is like "revert" in that it is someone returning back. The symbol looks exactly like what it is--a turning around in a circle. It is like tawaf; the ritual circling of the Kabbah. If you think of it as such, then see how the inner symbol is a square THE KABBAH. Subhanallah. I see that.

I found it on yabla.com and, being the curious person I am, started to search for more.

Here are some of the most important words in Islam written in Chinese.

This is actually how to write Kabbah

克尔白

Traditional 克爾白

Kè ěr bái

Ka'aba, sacred building in Mecca

安拉

Ān lā

Allah
(Arabic name of God)

伊斯兰

Traditional伊斯蘭

Yī sī lán

Islam

可兰经

Traditional可蘭經

Kě lán jīng

Quran (Islamic scripture)

Here's something that blew me away. The word for the Muslim Holy Book in Chinese is not "quran" because that word already has meaning. If you say "quran" in China, it means quiet, still and silent.

阒然

Traditional 闃然

qù rán

quiet

still and silent

How amazingly true is THAT?

清真

qīng zhēn

Islamic

Muslim

halal (of food)

clean

pure

朝向

cháo xiàng

Qibla (Islam)

The Qibla is the direction Muslims face while praying and it is to the Kabba in Mecca.To me, it looks like the faith of 回 has an open door to reach the inside and isn't that a beautiful way to think of the qibla?

To go on Hajj has an interesting connotation.

朝觐

Traditional 朝覲

cháo jìn

to give audience (of emperor)

retainers' duty to pay respect to sovereign

hajj (Islam)

Isn't that kind of interesting? The same words for hajj are what you'd say if you were going to visit a head of state---like an emperor...or a caliph.

哈里发

Traditional 哈里發

Hā lǐ fā

Khalīfah or Caliph (Arabic: successor), head of state in Caliphate

It brings an earthly understanding of how important going to Mecca is.

If you're racking your brain on which Eid is "Azha", it is known as Eid-Al-Adha here in Egypt or as the Eid Kabeer the big holiday when the sheep are slaughtered at the end of Hajj.

There are the other observances of Islam like fasting in Ramadan.

封斋

Traditional 封齋

fēng zhāi

fast (in several religions)

Ramadan (Islam)

see also 齋月|斋月[Zhāi yuè]

斋月

Traditional 齋月

Zhāi yuè

Ramadan (Islam)

尔德

Traditional 爾德

Ěr dé

Eid (Islam)

开斋节

Traditional 開齋節

Kāi zhāi jié

Eid ul-Fitr (Islam)

Hari Raya

There are the words for the observance of prayer.

清真寺

qīng zhēn sì

mosque

教长

Traditional 教長

jiào zhǎng

dean

mullah

imam (Islam)

see also 伊瑪目|伊玛目[yī mǎ mù]

When I looked up "wudu" this is what was brought up.

无毒 Traditional

無毒

wú dú

harmless

innocuous

lit. not poisonous

I love this! I don't know if this is what you'd say to speak about the Islamic absolution but it's very cool to think of the literal meaning as not poisonous. I always imagine my wudu as cleaning off the toxins of the day so this has real meaning to me.

I looked but couldn't find "hijab".

This may or may not be what a hijab gets called.

盖头

Traditional 蓋頭

gài tóu

cover

cap

topping

head covering

veil

朝向

cháo xiàng

Qibla (Islam)

The Qibla is the direction Muslims face while praying and it is to the Kabba in Mecca.To me, it looks like the faith of 回 has an open door to reach the inside and isn't that a beautiful way to think of the qibla?

祷

Traditional 禱

dǎo

prayer

pray

supplication

顶拜

Traditional 頂拜

dǐng bài

to prostrate oneself

to kneel and bow the head (in submission, supplication, worship etc)

念珠

Traditional 唸珠

niàn zhū

prayer beads

I looked up the prophets (peace be upon them all). Not all were listed and for many I used the Christian names for them.

亚当

Traditional亞當

Yà dāng

Adam

诺亚

Traditional 諾亞

Nuò yà

Noah

亚伯拉罕
Traditional亞伯拉罕

Yà bó lā hǎn

Abraham, father of Judaism and Islam in the Bible and Quran

same as Ibrahim 易卜拉辛

Just from seeing a few names, I can guess that 亚 means prophet or something like it.

依撒格

Yī sā gé

Issac (name)

摩西

Mó xī

Moses

This one made me laugh. I know it isn't pronounced exactly the same, but in English, "moxie" means a force of character, determination or nerve and that CERTAINLY was Nabi Musa/Prophet Moses (peace be upon him).

亚伦

Traditional 亞倫

Yà lún

Aaron (name)

雅各

Yǎ gè

Jacob (name)

耶利米

Yē lì mǐ

Jeremy or Jeremiah (name)

约瑟夫

Traditional 約瑟夫

Yuē sè fū

Joseph (name)

约纳

Traditional 約納

Yuē nà

Jonah

施洗约翰

Traditional 施洗約翰

Shī xǐ Yuē hàn

John the Baptist

耶稣

Traditional耶穌

Yē sū

Jesus

穆罕默德

Mù hǎn mò dé

Mohammed (c. 570-632), central figure of Islam and Prophet
of God

It is incredible how Islam spread to China. We can thank Abi Wakas (ra) who went to China and died and was interned in China. Read more about him here and about the mosque he founded here.

There is a hadith (although of only deserving the grade of "fair" believability) that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "Seek knowledge, even as far as China." For certain, Islam encourages knowledge and learning about other languages and cultures helps us and helps the ummah. Why China specifically? It is unfathomable that it could have been brought to such a far flung place by a sahabi...but it was. Subhanallah! If a sahabi (ra) can travel so far a distance, when travel was so long and dangerous, to such a diverse group of people and BRING ISLAM and have it remain for centuries in their hearts, then what can't be done?!

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